Chapter 42

He arrived ten minutes early to find everyone but Jules was already waiting. They greeted him warmly.

“You disappeared,” Joanne commented.

Adrian shrugged in response. “Everyone copes with grief differently.” Joanne looked sceptically at him and he knew she was worried about his mental health. “I’m fine,” he told her. “Are we ready?” Adrian asked, more to take the attention off him than curiosity. He was confident Praveen would have everything under control.

“Yes, I purchased everything we need,” Praveen answered. “I’ll brief you on the way.”

Kiyoko rode up on a horse. “What?” she asked at their looks. “You really expect me to hike along with you.”

“Old lady, I don’t think…” Praveen began.

“Thank you for agreeing to come,” Adrian said hurriedly, interrupting Praveen. “Your guidance is welcome.”

“The horse is a—” Praveen continued.

Felicity grabbed him and put a finger on his lips. “She’s a high-level oracle, you idiot.”

“Who does not like to be called old.” Kiyoko dug her heels into the horse and it plodded forward.

Mutated Earth Horse (Bonded to Kiyoko)

This horse has increased inherent healing, speed and agility.

Adrian snorted. She was an oracle and riding an animal that could accelerate faster than a motorcycle and stop on a dime. Foresight and speed, nothing was getting close to hurting her if she could stay on it.

He studied Kiyoko carefully, looking for recent changes.

Beast Riding Advanced

Advanced beast riding gives the rider a perfect seat and balance and ensures the rider does not feel fatigued or sore no matter how long they ride.

Ring of the beast

When riding, the horse and rider become as one and can use phantom dodge to avoid all damage from an attack. (9 charges, Recharge time: five hours per expended charge)

Kiyoko had come prepared. Not only did she have a horse that the kings and princes of Dubai would definitely drool over, she also had artefacts and skills to get the maximum out of it.

Jules emerged, jogging between some trees a hundred metres away. She was coming from the southern bushland as opposed to the city, having clearly been out hunting or practising a new skill. Their entire group immediately started moving down the road toward the next town on their map. They might as well meet her halfway after all she was coming from the direction they needed to travel.

Adrian studied her and wondered what she had been up to. There were no new noteworthy skills or abilities, and she had what looked like fresh blood on her. Maybe some hunting?

“It was me.” Kiyoko’s voice came to his ear and startled him. “I asked for a favour.”

With a start, Adrian realised he had been so engrossed in the mystery of Jules that the group had moved over ten metres away. And with Kiyoko’s confession the question was solved. For whatever reason, the oracle had wanted Jules to kill something, and he knew Jules well enough that she would have jumped at the challenge.

Step.

He caught up to the others. “While we’re walking do you want to tell us about these birds?”

“They’re annoying,” Praveen admitted. “They have three modes of attack. Sound to debilitate from afar, air daggers to strike from range and their claws are sharper than they should be. Worse, there are lots of them.”

“How many?” Omala asked.

“Hundreds of thousands.”

“That’s nothing,” she scoffed at him.

“They are individually far tougher than hoopers.”

“What tricks did you buy?” Adrian asked unable to help himself.

“Earmuffs to negate the sound attack and mirage stones.”

“What?”

“They create a mirage of you from above. It makes the air daggers go wide,” the tank explained.

“And that is the best technique?” Jules sounded confused.

“By miles,” Praveen told them. “Then when they are close, we have these.” He produced a simple piece of string with a pouch on the end.

Stone Slinger

Throws a magic pebble that creates a ripple of light energy with an explosive range of three metres.

Charges 1. Recharge time. 2 seconds.

Cost 50,000

They were not slingshots, as you needed to spin them around before releasing the ball of energy, but they were sort of the same and looked like a children’s toy. They worked purely with magic, and the explosion generated was weak.

“The wild singing swoopers are vulnerable to light attacks,” Praveen explained. “These are reusable and if you aim them properly, each detonation will kill a bird and injure the surrounding ones. I also have,” Praveen dug into his bag of holding and pulled out familiar looking rooks, “memory stones of advanced stone flinging.”

Happily, Praveen started handing them out. Adrian declined, knowing he lacked the capacity to absorb any more knowledge. Jules also refused for the same reason.

“If you are not taking the course, you should probably start practicing,” Praveen suggested. Almost casually, the man spun the metre-long length of string around so it almost hummed and then released. Adrian, in his domain, saw the flash as the piece of energy shot off and struck a mosquito the size of his fist on a branch thirty-five metres away. There was a burst of light and the mosquito died. “That was easy. It wasn’t moving and only required basic skill level,” Praveen told him. “The swoopers are harder again. You ain’t hitting them unless you have a lot of skill.”

Jules looked at him helplessly.

“You know we don’t have the capacity to absorb the memory stones,” Adrian said finally.

The tank grinned at him. “Oh, you’ll have to rely on us. Oh well. Help where you can.”

“I bet the World Saver won’t even hit one,” Galan called out.

“I am more worried about him hitting me,” Felicity joked.

“Guys, I am standing right here.”

“We know mate.” Praveen patted him on the back.

Adrian started spinning the weapon around and released it like he had seen Praveen demonstrate. The ground at his feet exploded, and he felt a slash of pain through his armour as the light energy struck him. Praveen showed no expression, Mike cringed and Jules found it way too amusing.

Praveen’s hands landed on his shoulder.

“I’ll go practice away from you guys,” he offered.

“Nah,” Praveen declared nonchalantly before he snatched the stone flinger from him. “It’s too dangerous to let you have this.”

Mike, Galan and Felicity laughed. Jules was almost laughing. She handed her weapon back and then held out a hand.

“No, you can collect from Mike and Charlotte,” Praveen told her.

“My bet was with you,” she hissed.

“What was the bet?”

“You don’t need to know,” Jules told him, winking.

“Mike, Charlotte, pay up,” Praveen demanded.

“I am short at the moment,” Mike said, patting his pockets to show that there was nothing in them.

“Same,” Charlotte agreed.

“Next week,” Mike suggested. “After we get to a trader.”

“I don’t have the money to pay her.” Praveen stage whispered out of the side of his mouth. “She’s a barbarian.”

“Who’s about thirty seconds from losing her patience,” Jules said suddenly deadly serious.

Praveen looked desperately at Mike. “Guys, I need the energy.”

Jules winked at him and Adrian smiled. It was all mock anger.

“I’m going to get very displeased in a moment.” She stamped her foot.

Thump!

The earth under her feet cracked, and he felt mini earthquake from where he stood.

“I would pay you if I could.” Mike once more demonstrated for Praveen, patting his pocket and then pulling the insides out to show it was empty. “See nothing.” Completely ignoring the bag of holding.

Adrian could not take it anymore. “I’m out of here, guys.”

Step, step, step and he was even with Kiyoko on her horse.

“Too childish for you, hey.”

“I just know what’s coming next and…”

There was a crack.

“Why did you hit Mike for?” He heard Charlotte’s shrill voice. “Your bet's with Praveen. He’s the one who can’t pay.”

Kiyoko chuckled. “Is that the twist you were predicting?”

“Yep.”

“As I figured. Praveen owed me money, Mike owed Praveen money, so I might as well go to the source.”

“But?”

“And if I had to hit anyone…”

“Hey.”

He looked to see Jules dodge under one of Charlotte’s axes but it was all for show as the redhead was grinning as she swung.

“Praveen took the risk,” Charlotte insisted and swung her axe again at Jules who casually sidestepped. “He needs to own the consequences. You know he acted as a middleman and took a cut.”

“It was free money who’s not taking that,” Praveen argued.

Both women glared at him.

Praveen abruptly stopped talking.

“Is anyone going to heal me?” Mike called out, clutching his nose that was leaking blood.

Joanne waved her hand as a white light settled on Mike. “It’s only a bloody nose. It will fix itself in a few minutes.”

“You’re a healer. You’re not supposed to take sides,” Mike blustered.

“And you should have paid and not attempted to throw Praveen under the bus,” Joanne quipped back, grinning.

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